East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock Gets Price Target Increase from Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays raised its East West Bancorp price target from $155 to $160 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying approximately 20.65% upside from the stock’s reported price.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable: 11 analysts rate EWBC a Buy and four rate it a Hold, resulting in a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $144.77.
• East West Bancorp exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.76 in EPS and $822.72 million in revenue, with revenue up 5.8% year over year.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Barclays from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Barclays's price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.65% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on EWBC. Stephens boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $129.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $144.77.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.4%

EWBC opened at $132.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The business's 50-day moving average price is $128.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. East West Bancorp has a 12 month low of $98.08 and a 12 month high of $137.47.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The financial services provider reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 30.75%. The company had revenue of $822.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $811.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. East West Bancorp's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 10.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Manuel Alvarez sold 810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.40, for a total value of $105,624.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,386,021.60. This trade represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.02, for a total value of $135,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,850,989.18. This represents a 6.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,810 shares of company stock worth $1,564,344. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $1,744,958,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 9.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,915,445 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $204,470,000 after purchasing an additional 168,029 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $221,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $130,744,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $36,995,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company's stock.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

East West Bancorp, Inc is the parent company of East West Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Pasadena, California. The bank serves businesses, professionals, consumers and institutions through a range of deposit, lending and financial services.

Its products and services include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, residential and consumer lending, checking and savings accounts, treasury management, international banking, wealth management and foreign-exchange services.

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